Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen unveiled a new domestically-produced submarine, declaring victory in a “mission impossible” intended to undermine China’s plans to subjugate the island democracy.
“A submarine designed and manufactured by our country's people sits before our eyes,” Tsai told an audience in Kaohsiung, a port city on the southern coast of Taiwan. “Even if there are risks, and no matter how many challenges there are, Taiwan must take this step and allow the self-reliant national defense policy to grow and flourish on our land.”
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Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping’s regime mocked the project as a waste of “hard-earned money of people in Taiwan.” Yet Taiwanese officials hope the "Narwhal" submarine, the first of eight in its class, will allow Taiwanese forces to thwart Chinese Communist attempts to choke the island in a crisis.
"The aim is to counter China's efforts to encircle Taiwan for an invasion, attack, or a blockade,” Taiwanese Adm. Huang Shu-kuang told Nikkei Asia.
The seven-year process of developing the vessel was a “torturous” one, according to the manufacturer, who implied it was eased by foreign assistance.
“Cheng Wen-lon, head of Taiwan's CSBC Corp, which led construction of the submarine, said the domestic content of the boat was about 40 percent,” Reuters noted. “He made no explicit mention of foreign participation in his speech in Kaohsiung.”
The lengthy initiative nonetheless seems tailored to the kind of strategy that some U.S. analysts fear could deliver China a victory in a war for Taiwan — an anxiety that has grown in the year since China’s People’s Liberation Army forces staged a dress rehearsal of a blockade in response to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) visit to Taipei last August.
“Our initial analysis is that they are doing joint drills in September, including land, sea, air, and amphibious,” Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said last week. “[The] recent enemy situation is quite abnormal.”
Chinese officials have suggested that their military pressure is intended as a rebuke of Tsai and her political party, the Democratic Progressive Party, which has its roots in a “pro-independence” movement founded in opposition to the authoritarian Chinese nationalist government that took refuge in Taiwan after its mainland defeat during the Chinese Communist Revolution.
“The reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait must and will be realized,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Thursday. “The DPP authorities have clung stubbornly to the separatist position for ‘Taiwan independence,’ squandered hard-earned money of people in Taiwan and sought to create antagonism and confrontation across the Taiwan Strait, which will only undermine cross-Strait peace and stability.”
Taiwanese politicians are entering the home stretch of a presidential season — the election is in January — that will decide whether the term-limited Tsai’s vice president will take over as her successor.
“Don’t be afraid and turn back because of the increased threat from authoritarianism,” Vice President Lai Ching-te said in August. “We must be brave and strong to continue to grow Taiwan on the road of democracy.”
Tsai’s allies on Thursday predicted that Beijing would not instigate a major confrontation before the election for fear that it would “backfire” against their preferences.
"The historical lesson is that the more China adopts a forceful way of intervening in our election, it's going to backfire, and I think the Chinese leaders know that very well," Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Thursday. "So it's not likely for them to do anything major to threaten Taiwan or anything so visible that the Taiwanese people understand that they are trying to intervene in our election.”
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In the meantime, Tsai is racing to get the "Narwhal" into the water alongside Taiwan’s older pair of submarines by 2025, which happens to be the year that one four-star Air Force general has identified as a potential time frame for a war between the United States and China.
"After today's naming and launch ceremony, we will continue to complete the equipment installation, testing, and sea trials of the prototype ship," Tsai said. "In 2025, with this submarine and the two Stegosaurus-class submarines currently in service in the navy, Taiwan will have three submarines with full combat capabilities.”